(GS3) Home Field: Espoir Mansion

[Cherry]

Ezel appeared as a spirit in the blackness of Yukino's world, and spoke to her.

After some time, one of the servants returned with hesitation. Relaying the first part of the message was a simple task, but the remaining bit shook the worker. A demand came from the closed off queen for him to speak it: "Against your honor, title, and name as an Espoir."

A darkened expression and a sigh - a steeled glare at the wall. Bladed pupils returning, the queen was done with this, and it was time to face Hana with this decision to move on. Still, hesitating, a hand squeezed at her face. Cards were messily spread on the bed she sat on, with Ezel's glowing dimly. Gathering Gareth, Beaumains, and Kryph, the champion's call was restored with the Gold Paladins changing their formations. Knowing that this had to be settled with the princess, the Chosen Sword... still hesitated for a few moments. It actually took awhile for the woman to finally get on her feet, and then an extra bit to finally open the door. Servants offered to lead the queen, but she ignored them.

Vanguard was Hana's choice of approaching Yukino, a choice that was not much favored by the queen. Yet, it wasn't the queen's choice to make concerning how to deal with the irate princess.

After what felt like an eternity, the door to the fight room was opened.

[Hope]

Hana spread her cards across the table, she looked at every single one. She knew that her sister wasn't in the mood to fight, but its not like the enemy gives the common courtesy to wait for someone to feel better before striking, they'll take everything from you when you least expect it... just like Neu did.

"If she doesn't just move on then I'll really have to go at it myself... don't I?" Hana picked up the Angel Feather cards one by one, stacking them back on top of one another. It's silly, Hana was doing all this because she was no better than her sister. This was her loneliness, her inability to move forward as well. All the feelings that she's held deep inside have manifested into an overflowing emotion of frustration and a desire to be able to change things with her own hands, to no longer be the one whom is protected. All she wants now is move beyond the sky that was presented to be her limit, while her sisters was able to fly up along with the stars. "Yet she wasted that privilege... she's been wasting it..." Hana thought to herself. She was finished with having a sister who spent so much of her time wallowing in sadness that she's become nearly unapproachable. This wasn't her sister.

"Yukino, are you ready?"

[Cherry]

"Honestly, no", Yukino responded with the door closing behind. "But that doesn't matter", uselessness of hesitation was accepted. The queen approached - deck in hand - set on becoming who people need her to be.

[Hope]

In the end, Hana had gotten the answers that she wanted, having to do one powerful set of moves in the end, winning despite being all the way behind for the rest of the game. Hana saw just about all she needed to from Yukino.

Hana's eyes turned into stars, her dreams held deep within them, the future that she reaches for being reflected off of them. In front of her was Yukino, her sister who was her role model. The star whom she reached for, and the knight whom she keeps calling out to, wishing that she could be saved. In the end, they both had a laugh, had a conversation like they used to. They understood one another again, to an extent. Both had their own separate intentions deep within, but in terms of what mattered, they came into agreement. They could be sisters again, talk about miscellaneous things outside of Vanguard, but at the same time they could be allies, practicing and fighting alongside one another. Hana at least got this worry out the way.

[Cherry]

"You're okay with this?" Ezel asked his Vanguard.

I don't exactly have a choice.

Yukino shot herself in the foot, letting Ezel's presence answer for her. The queen kept her mouth shut for the most part, giving her emotions to the lion as power. The Superior Ride, Silver Fang Witch immediately, a clean field setup of Grade Three bosses leading the charge. Once more did the deck evolve with the return of Kryph, now sporting Sagramore's eldest form. Triggers came like they never had before, but that also included a heal that couldn't activate, and three drawn. The game was closer than others, yet, the queen still knew it wasn't going to be enough. Not yet, at least.

Those sword-eyes reflected warmth into the starry gaze of Hana's, finally answering the call she was waiting for. Sharing a laugh, along with hearing Hana on how elder sister didn't have faith in Gold Paladin... They wanted to say she was wrong - that the only person Yukino had no faith was was herself. The queen, however, agreed with Hana. Though, she disagreed with the fun of vanguard not being about winning or losing. Earnestly believing that used to be the case, Neu Edelweiss stole away this "fun" because Royal Paladin's vanguard lost.

While ecstatic with mending this matter with her sister quickly, promising to speak of crushes and the like - girl things that Father Espoir would likely punch himself yet another new window over...

She wanted to scream.

Please understand.

She bit her finger, very hard.

I can't be the sister you want anymore. I'm sorry. Please, don't be mad at me.

The queen's darkness was cleansed by the light, but the hint of misery still clung to heart like a parasite. A yearning to succeed and have power like everyone else; to enjoy the same Vanguard everyone else around did... She would stop sitting still with her despair, at least. A decision to move forward, though painful, was made. Hana must've still been holding onto something that Yukino wanted to get rid of, Haruka's severe paranoia and the Seraphim matter needed to be dealt with, Satoshi who continued to mingle with the enemy for information and felt as if he was unable to keep up needs to find peace back in his mind.

The Chosen Sword's smile finally coated the sadness. An angel who fell from grace, fooling everyone she cared about to help them through. To sacrifice herself.

Yugure was going to take up Hana's offer on practicing in order to better herself into succeeding. Maybe showing off Yunos' return through spirit because of her envy. ... Actually, the reason why he's back should probably be left out.

Ezel, in spirit form once again, wrapped an arm around Yukino's shoulder, hugging his vanguard.

Hana +3 Affinity
Gold Paladin +10 Affinity
Ezel +20 Affinity

[Cherry]

New day, same nightmare. Unlike yesterday, Haruka wasn't in her room anymore... The queen would've liked to know she wasn't alone, but she couldn't just cling onto someone else for warmth. For some unknown reason, she felt incredibly weak. Turning about in bed slowly every few minutes, with agonizing moans and tired groans, she sat up. It took a little bit longer to actually get out of bed. Staggering about, Yukino proceeded to ready herself for the rest of the day. Once again, it was late in the afternoon. A sleep schedule that was completely wrecked beyond repair had settled in as the norm.

Right, I have work to do.

Yugure forced herself to jolt awake with a cold shower, as there were a number of issues that needed addressing among her loved ones. First, she would actually need to find them. Hana was probably still around, but Haruka and Satoshi weren't. Apologies were in order to be given to the farm boy, and as for the crush... Well, an exact plan for how to deal with his inner demon was difficult to conjure. Yet, an idea formulated itself. One that'll probably catch him off-guard, but still.

Greeting the servants, the queen began making her way to the door down the stairs.

When getting to the entrance hallway, her moving drastically slowed, becoming wobbly.

"Huh? I... My legs... feel like jelly..."

Yugure leaned on the wall for support, noticing her vision was beginning to blur as well. Lifting up an arm felt like trying to hold up a ton of bricks, trying to see her hand. Her stomach growled, greatly deprived of food for a good week now. Finally unable to muster up the energy to even move, the girl lost consciousness, and fell on the floor.

[Hope]

Hana woke up early in the morning. She started the day off by running outside on the front yard, doing usual exercises and stretches to sta in shape for dancing. She spend some time in her room practicing and singing along. Even the Angel Feathers tried to join in. They weren't as good as the Bermuda Triangle, but they tried.

"Nociel, you sound like a garbage truck."
"WAAAAH!!!!"

Next, Hana spent time in the fight room, asking some of the servants to help her practice in the Vanguard fight world. She remembered how she used to have a stage persona, even in Vanguard. Even after Bermuda Triangle had disappeared, the name still stayed as a signature to her phone, "BELLA." It was her idol name, no doubt, and the fact that it was in her phone was proof that even in a world without Bermuda Triangle, she still retained this very same dream. The practice with the workers wasn't so much a practice in actual fighting, but a practice in Vanguard fighting as a performance art, transferring her idol persona into who she was as a fighter. This was something that used to come naturally to Hana, but it had dulled recently and she felt that it needed practice.

*STAREYES*
*MAHOU SHOUJO TRANSFORMATION*
"Let's go minna!! Nociel attacku! LOVE ARROW SHOOTO!!!"
"HANA-SAMA!!!" A butler screamed passionately, overcome by the kawaii-desuness.

It was all in a days work just to restore her old self which she had lost. First she had to work on herself, then work on getting back the rest that was beyond her. A worker had approached her about her sister. The same feeling had overcome Hana again, the same feeling from yesterday, but she really tried to hold it back. "Dammit..." She thought to herself. She felt disappointment. What if her sister was going to be stuck in the same place forever, just deadweight, holding back the Gold Paladins and the armies of Cray, holding back the family and her mission as a whole. She turned to a worker with a half-hearted attempt to smile.

"Bring Yukino-... Yukinee to my room. I'll go into the kitchen to cook some eggs for her..." She went to her room to fetch her apron then headed into the kitchen.

[Cherry]

Several servants used unnecessary amounts of effort to tend to the fallen child. With haste did they deploy a stretcher, higher ranked butlers making a path with two rows of themselves to block off other obstructions. "Mistress down, mistress down!" was shouted, sirens going off. They lifted the hungry queen onto the stretcher, laying her down. Then, quickly began to deliver her to the princess' room. Dad Espoir opened the door of his office to take a peek at the commotion. Regret instantly washed over as he watched all of the employees act like raving idiots.

"She's just hungry..." He facepalmed.

[Hope]

Hana just finished cooking the 49th egg.

"Hana-sama I think that's way too much..." A butler informed her.

"Shut up, I'm not in the mood for anything non-egg right now..." She said, furiously cooking the 50th egg.

This was the poor butler that just had to deal with a dad-san that was tired of the other worker's inability to analyze the current situation with Yukino. Now he's stuck with angry Hana and her egg problems, this man deserves a raise. 

[Beryl]

Initially, Satoshi had started flat out running past all the houses, but when he started to pass Haruka's, he had a thought. What if it was because Yukino threw off her eating again? That's why she devoured so much of the feast before; she had been starving herself.

"Well, I gotta do something about that."

He dashed inside, packed up the rest of his leftover food, and made a beeline for the Espoirs.

Upon being let into the mansion, he zipped into the kitchen and started cooking.

He completely didn't notice Hana making a large amount of eggs as he chopped up vegetables for a salad.

[Cherry]

After some time passing, Yukino finally awoke once again, dizziness overpowering the queen's attempt to sit up. "Goddammit..." she cursed under her breath. Unable to clearly make out where she even was, tries at getting up were still made. Which only made the aching pain of her body worse, as the strength to hold itself together was absent. Another swear, she didn't have time for this. There was work to do.

But she just couldn't get up.

[Hope]

After finishing the 50th egg, Hana looked in admiration at the stack, truly majestic. Now back to business. She ordered the butler to come and take it up to her room along with utensils. She also took a piece of dry cloth along with a bucket of ice water with her and she carried both up to her room. Yukino was on her bed as she ordered her to be taken, she seemed to have woken up. Hana took one of the chairs and moved it over next to her bed where her sister was. She dipped the cloth in the cold water and handed it over to her sister.

"Here, put it on your head. It helps with headaches and it just feels nice, I saw it in a movie once." Hana said, letting out an expression that tried to be a smile, but instead ended up being something in between glad and disappointed.

[Cherry]

Yukino translated Hana's expression as disappointment, which was natural. Hana still didn't have the sister she wanted back after yesterday's trial, but that was something that can be fixed after this mess. Taking the rag, it soothed the pain storming about in her head at the very least. Her entire body was still weak, but she managed to ignore the migraine enough to sit up. Vision was still somewhat blurred, but it was clearing up.

"Sorry", the queen offered an apology for wasting everyone's time. She actually ignored the eggs initially, staring off into space in thought.

[Beryl]

Satoshi came in, wearing an apron from the kitchen and carrying a tray with a nice meal of a steak, a salad, some noodles and orange juice. He sat with the tray next to Hana, looking to Yukino. She definitely looked like she was in rough shape.

"Cavalry's arrived, darlin'," he said with a weak smile.

[Jello]

For once, Haruka actually just showed up. He had actually only been here once without being invited or coming back with a group of people. It was the first time he was here. Which was, to say the least, an interesting evening.

Before he hit the doorbell, he noticed footsteps moving about inside. He pressed the doorbell and got an instant response.

"Waiting for me?" Haruka had a smirk and a hand on his hip. The staff had let him in, knowing of how Yukino was doing. Due to lack of eating and other health-related issues, she had passed out on her way out of the house, to which she was then made eggs, 50 eggs specifically, for her by Hana.

"Hmm. Right. I should probably stay down here then? Or should I go?" The two staff members, both maids in their middle-ages were kind of just wondering what to say to Haruka. He was obviously interested in seeing the sisters, even if Satoshi was around he wouldn't mind catching up with him. However he wasn't about to simply request somebody's presence. Talk about rude.

"Erm, tell you what. I'll just be here. Or, the kitchen having coffee. Either of those places, okay? I doubt anybody knows I'm here so I won't be a hassle, okay?" Haruka put a finger to his lips making the "shhhh" movement with his lips. He then gets off the sofa and directs himself to the kitchen down the hall and up the stairs. The one he always found his favorite butler at. Alas, he wasn't there today. He was probably taking care of the fallen Yukino or helping Hana with the food.

"The kitchen to myself then? Eh... Well the coffee is already made." Haruka poured a cup.

Sip. Sip. Gulp.

Mmmmm... Much better than the store bought stuff.